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MBA vs MBP please help me !

A

ambasador

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 24, 2012
5
0
Hello ! I have a problem, I don’t know which macbook is better for me: MBA or MBP

-Mainly I will work at home, but sometimes I will work outside.
- work in iWork, iMovie, PS
- Surfing the internet
- watching movie
- I am going to play Football Manager 12 on the macbook
I want fast macbook. I want work on this macbook minimum 5 years.

only 13' price : about 1.000 EURO
 
Given that you are planning on keeping the laptop for 5 years and the MBP has more expansion possibility and a faster cpu I recommend the MBP.

It gives you more ports, the ram and storage is upgradeable. If you feel so moved you can also pull the optical drive and add another hard drive (you'll need to purchase an optibay or [URL="http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/"]data doubler cage [/URL]to hold the drive)

While smaller the MBA is limited with a slower CPU, ram is not upgradable less ports and limited to how much you can upgrade the SSD storage.
 
Yes, I agree MBP is very good, but SSD in MBA it is huge advantages, MBA work faster, switch on/of faster than MBP it's important for me...
I don't know, but I recon MBP is more reasonable choice.
 
yes, but it's another cost.

----------

I haven't got experience with MBA, MBP. The difference SSD vs HDD is huge, onerous ?
 
ambasador said:
I haven't got experience with MBA, MBP. The difference SSD vs HDD is huge, onerous ?
Click to expand...
It's pretty significant for most users. Don't buy the SSD from Apple. Buy the MBP and add the SSD yourself. It's a lot cheaper buying from other vendors.
 
Go MBP

I agree with most responses. Go with a MBP. You can upgrade the HDD to a SSD later on (always go 3rd party, don't buy from Apple), can be upgraded 8GB or even possibly 16GB of RAM, and has a better Processor. IMO, the only thing the air really excels at is being ultra light weight, super thin, and a slightly higher monitor resolution.

As far as the switch on/off faster, my 3.5 year old 15" MBP boots up in about 30 sec, wakes up from sleep in about 2 seconds, and shuts down in about 5 seconds. That's with a 320GB 7200RPM drive in it. I did have a 160GB SSD in at one point and boot up was about 15 seconds, wake was near instant and shut down was 2-3 seconds. I just needed the storage and wasn't willing to give up the optical drive at that point in time.
 
Go with the MBP. The MBP is upgradable which for me would be a deal breaker. You can easily add your own SSD and choose a better one than Apple uses. The MBA is a nice machine I have one, but it is limited. I threw 8GB of RAM and an SSD in my MBP and it blows circles around my MBA. In the end you'll be much happier going with the MBP. The MBP is simply more future proof and your not limited in your RAM and HDD options like you are with the MBA.
 
Ok I make a decision I will buy MBP 13' i5 2.4GHz 500GB 4GB RAM.
June 11-15 is a WWDC in San Francisco. Probably will be announce a new model of MBP. So I belive that price of older MBP will fall, or no ?

Should I wait or no ?
 
ambasador said:
Ok I make a decision I will buy MBP 13' i5 2.4GHz 500GB 4GB RAM.
June 11-15 is a WWDC in San Francisco. Probably will be announce a new model of MBP. So I belive that price of older MBP will fall, or no ?

Should I wait or no ?
Click to expand...

Definitely wait - and when you buy, check out the refurbs on the Apple website - restored to like new, fully tested, full warranty, and 15% savings.
 
I would wait too. And save your pennies, be extremely cheap for the next month and try to save enough for the thinner MacBook 15" with retina display that is rumored to be coming out. Get a SSD and more RAM.

As for the current generation, I think the MacBook Air wins out if you don't need a DVD player/burner.
 
My budget is small - only 1.000 EURO, so I think the new MBP will be more expensive than 1.000 EURO. I belive that new MBP will announce on WWDC (June), because I need laptop right now.

I am going to buy MBP (13 i5 2.4GHz 500GB 4GB RAM) after the WWDC (maybe 10-15 % discount). In the future I will change on SSD.
 
MBA is More Than Enough

Dude, all you need is an MBA. You will thank everyone who said MBA when you are hauling around less weight. I do minor video editing for an amateur football team (soccer) and I work with high resolution images for Playtex (files as big as 800MB) and I do it all on an i7 13" MBa. I have the external display, but I don't really use it as much as I thought I would. I have my screens calibrated so I enjoy the fact that I don't have to sit at a desk to work and with this lightweight laptop, I can carry it around with my other equipment so I can shoot tethered on location.
I would not go for the 11" because the screen ratio is more rectangular (making it useless for real work IMO). This thing is fast and it takes everything I've thrown at it in stride and it's light and compact. If you want more power, then wait for the upgrade this school season and buy the new version instead of buying MBP.
 
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